Laser diode arrays are used in a wide range of commercial, medical and military applications: materials processing (soldering, cutting, metal hardening), display technology/graphics, medical imaging (MRI) and surgical procedures (corneal shaping, tissue fusion, dermatology, photodynamic therapy), satellite communication, remote sensing and laser isotope separation. In certain solid-state laser applications it is desirable to use laser diode arrays to optically excite, i.e., “pump,” the crystal hosts. Diodes offer a narrow band of emission (reducing thermal lensing), compactness, high electrical efficiency and higher reliability as compared to flash lamps. Despite these numerous advantages, however, diode-pumped solid-state lasers (DPSSLs) have gained slow market acceptance due to the high cost associated with the laser diode array pumps. Significant diode array cost reductions would enable wide deployment of DPSSLs and new architectures to be realized that were previously cost prohibitive. In particular, low-cost diode arrays would bolster the inertial confinement fusion (ICF) and inertial fusion energy (IFE) programs that utilize low-repetition rate laser diode arrays in very high volumes.
As the laser diodes are driven at increasingly high output powers, the current laser diode packages are unable to meet the demand for increased heat dissipation. Thus, there is a need in the art for more a robust laser diode package that can provide increased reliability over existing laser diode packages.